Chapter 617 - 554: The 16th

Chapter 617: Chapter 554: The 16th

After nine hours of darkness, almost to the second, a Great Sun rapidly ascended to hang high in the sky. A scorching heat rose from the blazing sun, unleashing rolling heatwaves across this Desert Sea Heaven and Earth.

The yellow sand filled the sky. Amidst the boundless bloodshed, that once vibrant land seemed to have lost its source of life. Its rare flowers, strange grasses, and towering ancient trees all withered before the naked eye.

As the withering continued, the endless Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide completely submerged the oasis—a place that never should have belonged in the barren Desert Sea—in just a few breaths’ time.

Once the last trace of life was extinguished, it was as if a scene was replaying itself. With no external enemies left, every Sand-tailed Scorpion regained its original Spiritual Wisdom, returning to its state as an individual living being.

All traces of their frenzy and their rigid, puppet-like state vanished completely.

Among them, two Silver-White Sand-tailed Scorpions flew swaggeringly across the sky, one after the other, heading for the unknown depths of the Desert Sea.

This anomaly, however, caused not a single ripple in the Desert Sea. That mysterious will showed no reaction at all.

「Several days passed quietly.」

On this day, the two Silver-White Sand-tailed Scorpions, which had flown ceaselessly across the sky for days, finally landed one after the other on a sand dune.

Compared to the vast Desert Sea, this particular sand dune seemed no different from any other.

Inside the body of the Silver-White Sand-tailed Scorpion, Chu Mu held a grayish-white Compass, his expression visibly grave.

Having traveled single-mindedly for several days without the obstruction of a Beast Tide, their speed was naturally fast.

In just a few short days, the two Silver-White Sand-tailed Scorpions had traversed thousands upon thousands of miles of this Desert Sea.

And throughout this immense journey, the scenery he witnessed was no different from what he saw at the beginning, or what lay before him now.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but endless yellow sand filling the sky.

Within the sea of sand, the Sand-tailed Scorpions remained infinite, and there was no sign of any life other than them.

The entire Desert Sea was permeated by a pervasive, unsettling strangeness.

The most fundamental question was, in this vast Desert Sea, how did the endless hordes of Sand-tailed Scorpions survive without any other non-scorpion creatures to prey on?

High Tier Demon Beasts might not need to rely on consuming flesh and blood, able to sustain their Demon Bodies by absorbing Spiritual Qi. But for Low Tier Demon Beasts, absorbing Spiritual Qi alone was clearly not enough to survive without any food source.

This point was no different for Cultivators.

For a Cultivator to completely abstain from food and no longer need the essence of grains and meat, they had to have a Cultivation of at least the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Some special beings whose Cultivation relied on consuming flesh and blood found it difficult to completely abstain from food even upon reaching the Golden Core Realm.

The Desert Sea was boundless, the Sand-tailed Scorpions infinite, and the vast majority of them were Tier One or Tier Two.

These Sand-tailed Scorpions appeared to be living creatures, but in reality, they were like lifeless Puppets. They didn’t prey on each other, nor were they seen consuming any food. Their aimless wandering through the vast Desert Sea was undeniably bizarre.

’And what’s more...’

Chu Mu looked down at the grayish-white Compass in his hand. It was similar to the Five Elements Compass he had conceived and designed.

The only difference was that the Five Elements Compass was for detecting and monitoring spatial fluctuations.

This Compass, named "Spirit-Determining," was for tracking Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

Compared to detecting spatial fluctuations, simply tracking Spiritual Qi fluctuations was a task on a completely different level of difficulty.

After all, Spiritual Qi was everywhere. Under normal circumstances, it was nearly impossible for Spiritual Qi to fluctuate.

If fluctuations did occur, it was either due to natural creations of heaven and earth, like Spirit Veins, Ore Veins, or phenomena such as seas of magma and fire...

...or it was caused by a Cultivator’s Cultivation or a Battle, both of which would generate corresponding Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

Any fluctuation, no matter how minuscule, would inevitably create a corresponding chain reaction within the greater environment of an otherwise calm world of Spiritual Qi, regardless of the distance.

Through this chain reaction, it was undoubtedly easy to detect the corresponding Spiritual Qi fluctuations. If one was close enough, one could even determine the cause of the fluctuations by their intensity and the resulting phenomena.

Back when he first arrived in the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World and went to sea for Demon Hunting, he had Refined a similar detection treasure. Later, as his Artifact Refining Skill improved, he had made many enhancements to it, just as he had with his Illusion God Mask.

The Five Elements Compass could basically only monitor spatial fluctuations within a radius of a few miles. However, the detection range of this Spirit-Determining Compass extended to a radius of a hundred miles or more. If accuracy wasn’t a concern, this range could even be expanded to nearly three hundred miles.

And here, this Compass, which had lain dormant in his Storage Space for a long time, was undoubtedly proving its worth once again.

The surface of the pale gray Compass was as crystal clear as a mirror, appearing to contain the entire desert within it.

The route that spanned thousands of miles was also displayed on the Compass.

However, this route wasn’t a straight line. It was winding and crooked, as if he had been deliberately detouring around something along the way.

And that was indeed the case.

After all, Qin Zhaoxue’s appearance undoubtedly meant that this strange sea of sand was not what the records described—a Ruins Cave Mansion where every Cultivator faced a different trial.

This Desert Sea had clearly broken that rule.

And over the past few days, the Spirit-Determining Compass had provided further proof of this fact.

At this moment, on the Compass’s crystal-clear depiction of the sand sea, every curve in the thousands-of-miles-long route was marked with one or more distinct black dots.

Each black dot represented a location where the Spirit-Determining Compass had detected an abnormal Spiritual Qi fluctuation.

And based on the nature of the Spiritual Qi fluctuations detected by the Compass, all of them, without exception, were clearly caused by a Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide. In a considerable number of them, he could even clearly perceive the fluctuations of a Cultivator’s Magical Power.

Clearly, for reasons unknown, there were quite a few other Cultivators besides Qin Zhaoxue who had entered this sand sea trial.

In just a few days, the number he himself had detected already exceeded what he could count on his fingers.

While disguised as a Sand-tailed Scorpion to remain hidden, he naturally avoided such abnormal fluctuations as soon as he detected them, keeping a wide berth.

Otherwise, if they got too close, what awaited them would likely be the control of that mysterious will, causing them to lose control of their bodies once more.

HUM...

At that moment, the Compass suddenly vibrated. Then, on its crystal-clear mirror surface, another extremely distinct black dot appeared right in front of them.

’The... sixteenth.’

Chu Mu’s brow furrowed slightly. He glanced ahead. The yellow sand churned, and he could faintly see the nearby Sand-tailed Scorpions all converging toward the location of the Spiritual Qi fluctuation.

Based on his experience from crossing thousands of miles, whenever an outsider appeared somewhere, the Sand-tailed Scorpions from a radius of at least a hundred miles would swarm toward them.

This ultimately formed an endless, relentless Beast Tide.

But even now, he still didn’t understand the purpose of this Desert Sea trial.

’An endless Beast Tide?’

’Am I supposed to destroy the source that controls the Sand-tailed Scorpions?’

’But the problem is, faced with such an endless Beast Tide, any Cultivator would likely find it incredibly difficult just to survive, let alone search for the ultimate source.’

Even with his disguise, having crossed thousands of miles, he had yet to find a single useful clue.

As far as he could see, there was nothing but desert, and more desert; nothing but Sand-tailed Scorpions, and more Sand-tailed Scorpions. It was as if they had been copied and pasted, endless and boundless.

The other outside Cultivators he had detected were, without exception, all struggling desperately under the endless Beast Tide, fighting for a sliver of hope for survival.

As for that fluctuation of will, he could perceive it clearly, but no matter what methods he tried, he couldn’t get the slightest glimpse of its source.

’This Desert Sea... it’s like a... cage?’

Chu Mu seemed to sense something and looked up at the sky.

The blazing sun hung high—a Great Sun, incredibly scorching, yet also incredibly illusory.

He cultivated the Great Sun True Flame, so his perception of the Great Sun’s existence was sharp, stemming from his very core.

Yet from this Great Sun, he couldn’t feel the slightest trace of the aura that should belong to a great sun...